Managing Pain With Homeopathy

New American medical dictionary gives the meaning of pain as, Hurt; This one word carries a big load behind it.

Asa Hershoff in his book " Homeopathy for Musculoskeletal healing " explains "pain" as follows. " Pain is a biochemical neurological and psychological event that occurs when an impulse,stimulated by tissue changes, travels through nervous pathways and reaches the brain."

Pain can be induced by the nerves,ligaments, bone coverings,joint linings, and muscles.The sensation of pain as felt by the patient may not be enough when looking for a homeopathic remedy, it is the subjective quality of the pain which is very important in finding the correct remedy.

To understand the subjective quality of pain one has to be keen enough to listen to the patient as he/she expresses the pain in their own words.It is converting the words of the patient into appropriate rubrics and then applying it to determine the medicine is what constitute good homeopathy;

We will now see what are the types of pains and their further subdivision.

TYPES OF PAIN.

SHARP PAIN:

Can be of the following types,

Stinging, like a bee sting, splinter like.

Cutting, like cutting with a knife.

Stabbing, like plunging a dagger or knife.

Pricking, like poking with a pin.

Stitching, as if using a needle.

SHOOTING:

Drawing, Pulling.

Twisting, Digging, Boring.

Radiating, Lancinating.

SPASMODIC:

Cramping, Grabbing, Jerking.

BURNING:

Cold needle, Hot needle.

STIFF:

Contracted, Constricted, Band - like.

PRESSING:

Compressive,Crushing, Squeezing

Pinching, Gnawing, Tearing.

CHANGEABLE:

Wandering, Shifting, Erratic.

Throbbing, Pulsating.

LAME:

As if dislocated, as if broken, as if sprained.

SENSATION:

It is defined as a kind of feeling as the result of a particular type of stimulation; something of which one becomes aware through the use of one's senses. Now pain is also a sensation and Asa Hershoff explains it as " Neurologically,pain is due to a combination of heat,touch, pressure, and PAIN RECEPTORS in the tissues"

Now that we have a good idea of pain,which is an important symptom, as such it will have three components,which are, Location, Sensation, and Modality. Another adjunct to this is the Concomitant.This in itself could be another symptom;Thus in dealing with pain all these factors must be considered to arrive at the right choice of homeopathic medicine.

TYPES OF SENSATIONS:

NUMBNESS:

Heaviness, Pressure

STIFFNESS:

Contracted, Constricted, Band - Like.

DEFORMITY:

Nodosities, Osteophytes, Contractures.

PARAESTHESIA

( A burning, tingling sensation often felt in neuritis)

Formication, Tingling, Crawling, Prickling.

TREMORS:

Trembling, Twitching, Shaking, Jerking.

RESTLESSNESS:

To remove stiffness, to relieve pain, from nervous agitation.

TEMPERATURE:

Coldness of the area, chills, heat or warmth, burning sensation.

WEAKNESS:

Pain as if paralyzed, Lame, Awkward, Uncoordinated

ATROPHY:

Emaciation.

SPASM:

Tension, cramps.

Swelling

MEDICINE OFTEN USED IN PAIN

There are many medicines for pain in homeopathy,depending on the location and nature of pain.It is not possible to discuss all of them in this small blog; How ever a few are being mentioned here for information.

If the readers find this blog informative, useful and get the benefit of using some of the medicine to their advantage, my labor would have been rewarded;

feet and heels.Its pain travel upwards from foot, to knee and upwards.

Shoulders, stitching pain, worse on raising the arm

Hands stiff, drawing pain traveling upwards

Knee, Tearing pain crackling, swelling, stiffness worse walking.

Feet, ankle sprain easily,swelling of the feet up to the knee.

Above mentioned medicine are some of the time tested pain medicine of homeopathy.There are others but can not be accommodated in this blog.In this connection it would be wort while to read Dr Asa Hershoff's " Musculoskeletal Healing", and Dr Steven Subotnick's " Sports & Exercise injuries".These are my favorites and have inspired me always;

Pain management is the best way to prove the efficacy of homeopathy. But, how to make this documented is the question! Lab tests before and after treatment is useful for conditions like space occupying lesions, hormonal changes, calculi, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, etc. But, in case of pain, the words of the patient is the only evidence. I have cured a number of carpel tunnel syndrome, mostly all failed cases from modern medicine. But, I have no proof!!!!

Thanks.In other systems of medicine, the pain management is a specialist field. Homeopathy is capable of removing pains permanently provided the exciting cause is also removed. According to my experience, all those homeopathic medicines who, during their proving, are capable of producing different kind of pains in different localities are most suitable due to their rapid action that can be few minutes or few hours. In spite of this for pain management, we need extensive research particularly for cancer patients where’s Allopathy is also hopeless. sajjad.

When the indicated remedies do not work, we can try Ruta 200. I have many good results. Dr Reji (Orthopedic surgeon, Kochi) had told me about Rhus tox 10 M for tennis elbow. I got good result with this specific even in cases failed by Ruta.